Pro Equipment: 2005 Australian Open

Russia’s Marat Safin the U.S.’s Serena Williams kicked off the 2005 Grand Slam season in style in January with title wins at the Australian Open. To illustrate the march toward polyester strings, only a handful of male pros in the Top 20 are using natural gut, and all of them use it as part of a hybrid system. Williams is one of the few women pros still using natural gut strings in her racquet. Post this chart in your store, so your customers can check out what their favorite players are using.

Men

Player

Racquet brand

Racquet model

Head size

String brand

String model

Gauge

Tension

Roger Federer

Wilson

nSix-One Tour

90

Luxilon/Wilson

Big Banger Alu Power Rough/ Natural Gut

16L

25/23.5

Lleyton Hewitt

Yonex

RDX 500

90

Babolat/ Luxilon

VS Team/Big Banger Alu Power

16L

56

Andy Roddick

Babolat

Pure Drive +

100

Babolat

Pro Hurricane/ VS Team 16

16

73

Marat Safin

Head

Liquidmetal Prestige Mid

93

Luxilon/Babolat

Big Banger Alu Power Rough/ VS Touch

16L

-

Guillermo Coria

Prince

O3 Tour

100

Luxilon

Big Banger Original

16

52

Carlos Moya

Babolat

Pure Drive

100

Luxilon

Big Banger Original

16

60

Tim Henman

Slazenger

Pro X-1

95

Babolat/Luxilon

Big Banger Timo 18/ VS Team Natural Gut

18

51.6

Gaston Gaudio

Wilson

nPro

95

Toalson

Cyber Blade Tour Thermaxe 127

1.27

59.5

David Nalbandian

Yonex

RDX 500

98

Luxilon

Big Banger Original

16

64

Andre Agassi

Head

Flexpoint Radical

107

Luxilon

Big Banger Alu Power

16L

66

Joachim Johansson

Yonex

RDX 500

90

Luxilon/Babolat

Big Banger Alu Power/ VS Team Natural Gut

16L/17

-

Guillermo Canas

Wilson

Hyper Pro Staff 6.1

95

Kirschbaum

Super Smash Honey

1.2

-

Tommy Robredo

Dunlop

300G

98

Luxilon

Big Banger Original

16L

23.5kg

Fernando Gonzalez

Babolat

Pure Storm +

98

Luxilon

Big Banger Alu Power

16L

25/27kg

Nikolay Davydendo

Head

LM Radical MP

98

Luxilon

Big Banger Alu Power

16L

-

Mikhail Youzhny

Head

Liquidmetal Instinct

100

Pacific

Polygut Blend 17

17

26kg

Tommy Haas

Dunlop

200g

95

Babolat

VS Touch

-

Nicolas Massu

Babolat

Pure Storm +

98

Luxilon

Big Banger Alu Power

16L

53

Dominik Hrbaty

Fischer

Pro Extreme FT

95

Kirschbaum

Super Smash 17

17

-

Feliciano Lopez

Babolat

Pure Drive +

98

Luxilon

Big Banger Original

16

-

Women

Player

Racquet brand

Racquet model

Head size

String brand

String model

Gauge

Tension

Lindsay Davenport

Wilson

nTour

95

Babolat

VS Touch

15L

63/64

Serena Williams

Wilson

n3

110

Wilson

Natural

16

67

Amelie Mauresmo

Dunlop

300G

98

Babolat

VS Touch

16

57.2

Maria Sharapova

Prince

Turbo Shark MP

100

Babolat

Pro Hurricane 17/ VS Touch 17

17

-

Anastasia Myskina

Head

Liquidmetal Instinct

100

Luxilon

Big Banger Timo 18

18

56/52

Svetlana Kuznetsova

Head

Liquidmetal Instinct

100

Luxilon

Big Banger Alu Touch

16L

-

Elena Dementieva

Yonex

RDX 500 MP

98

Luxilon

Big Banger Alu Power

16L

51/48.5

Venus Williams

Wilson

New Racquet coming soon

110

Wilson

Natural

16

65

Jennifer Capriati

Prince

Tour Diablo

95

Babolat/ Luxilon

VS Touch 16/ Big Banger Alu Power

16L

-

Alicia Molik

Dunlop

300G

98

Luxilon

Big Banger Alu Power

16L

-

Vera Zvonareva

Fischer

Pro No. One FT

98

Luxilon

Big Banger Alu Power

16L

-

Nadia Petrova

Babolat

Pure Drive Team

98

Luxilon

Monotec Supersense

16L

28

Nathalie Dechy

Head

Liquidmetal Prestige MP

98

Babolat

VS Touch Natural Gut

16

-

Patty Schnyder

Head

Liquidmetal Prestige MP

98

Kirschbaum

Super Smash Spikey

17

-

Justine Henin-Hardenne

Wilson

nTour

95

BDE

BDE Performance

16

-

Elena Bovina

Head

Liquidmetal Instinct

100

Luxilon

Big Banger Timo

17

-

Karolina Sprem

Fischer

Pro Tour FT

98

Tecnifibre

X-Tra Dynamic 1.33

16

57.3/55.1

Silvia Farina Elia

Prince

Triple Threat Graphite OS

110

Luxilon

Big Banger Original

16

52/50

Francesca Schiavone

Fischer

Pro No. One

98

Luxilon

Big Banger Timo

18

-

Paola Suarez

Prince

NXGraphite

100

Prince

Tournament Nylon

15L

-

A “/ ” denotes differing tensions between mains and crosses. A “-” indicates a tension range on multiple racquets. “NA” means player did not play or no information was available. Tensions above 38.5 are in pounds; 38.5 and below are in kilograms.